Georgia, Russia deadlocked over mystery missile strike by Ioana Madalina Tantareanu

Amid angry denials from Moscow, Georgia attempted to gain international support behind its accusations that a Russian plane engaged in a missile strike on its territory. David Bakradze, Georgia's minister for conflict resolution said that the report released was written by Europe's main security and democracy body, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). Military observers in Georgia at the time of Monday's incident saw one aircraft flying from the northeast, but it is also said that other monitors reported seeing a plane fly from southwest to northeast. Bakradze said that ."There is no other country than Russia to the northeast." Virginie Coulloudon, an OSCE spokeswoman in Vienna stressed that it was "an internal report that does not represent the position of the OSCE, but confirmed the document was genuine. After the 4.8 metre (15.7-foot) missile landed in a field some 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the Georgian capital on Monday, the United Nations Security Council said it would wait for more information before acting. Refering to this matter, a statement from Congolese ambassador to the UN Pascal Gayama, who is presiding over the Security Council this month said "We are looking forward to hear more about the facts, from OSCE particularly, so that would enable the Security Council to have a full picture of the situation before engaging any action." Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili accused Russia of bombarding Georgia, even if the missile did not explode and caused no injuries,raising the stakes in already tense relations between the pro-Western country and its Soviet-era master. Georgia's preparations to join the Western-led NATO military alliance infuriated Russia, which was regarding them as an incursion into its historical sphere of influence. A NATO spokeswoman said that the alliance's Deputy Secretary General Alessandro Minuto Rizzo had spoken by phone with Bezhuashvili and that ."They agreed that NATO would stay in close contact with the Georgian authorities and that it will follow the ongoing investigations." But Russia again rejected claims that one of its jets had entered Georgian airspace and released a missile and also accused Georgia of tampering with evidence.

by Ioana Madalina Tantareanu for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

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